This is a brilliant piece of cinema, concerning marriage and mature relationships, as seen through the eyes of different people who are all connected through odd coincidences. The interplay between the characters and the different situations are fascinating.The acting across is terrific, especially Anthony LaPaglia as a cop with emotional issues, suffering from guilt after cheating on his wife. Certainly a very ambitious movie that is not afraid to get its hands dirty, but the way it analyzes different situations with such perception and tender care is impressive. It makes thoughts and emotional webs run wild in your head. I highly recommend it.

This is one of those rarities, a movie which walks the tightrope between being a perfect drama and an absorbing mystery and does it spectacularly well. The first hour is dedicated to establishing the various characters like the cop, his wife, the woman he is fooling around with, her estranged husband, the neighbors of the women etc. The interplay between the characters and the different situations are very fascinating. The second half is about the disappearance of one of the characters and how the others interact and react. The acting is brilliant with Anthony Lapaglia surprisingly getting a meatier role and performing much better than Geoffrey Rush. The screenplay is simply fantastic. It is a travesty that this was not nominated for any of the major awards. perhaps it being from Australia was a reason. This is a must watch movie for buffs who love their drama with a touch of intrigue. 4 out of 5. Very well made movie.

This is classed as a thriller, and while it doesn't have the most "thrilling" moments, it is a film that will certainly grip you. Basically it is an ensemble character film that sees Detective Leon Zat (The Client's Anthony LaPaglia) having an affair with dance class attendee Jane 'Janie' O'May (Rachael Blake), Leon's wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) sees psychiatrist Dr. Valerie Somers (Beaches' Barbara Hershey), and she suspects her husband John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) is having an affair with one of her gay patients. Valerie is driving home one night and has her car break down, and the next morning John reports her missing to the police, and Leon is the one investigating. After confessing his affair to an upset Sonja, Leon then goes to Valerie's married neighbours, nurse Paula Daniels (Daniella Farinacci) and husband Nik (Vince Colosimo). Nik saw Jane throw something out the car window into the Lantana plants, it's Valerie's shoe, and Nik is taken into custody refusing to answer any questions. Eventually it comes out that Nik was driving along the road, and picked Valerie up, but she jumped out again as they went along an unknown road, leaving behind the shoe. So Leon, his partner Detective Claudia Wiss (Leah Purcell), Nik and John go to the spot where she jumped out, and they do find her body, she accidentally fell down. When Leon returns home, he listens to the tapes of his wife having therapy with Valerie, she said she still loves him, and he cries. He then goes to Sonja, and then film ends with them dancing seductively together, Leon has improved his steps, and Sonja can't quite have as much passion, and whether they make up or not is not answered. With great performances, I can agree the finding of the dead body plot line becomes a little less interesting compared to the drama of the character relationships, all involving chance and coincidence, a controlled Australian film. Very good!

I find it rather ironic that in the past six months I've been writing reviews on this site, I haven't reviewed an Australian film. Lantana is the first one I've seen since I started and it was also quite an interesting film, so it gets a review.Lantana (so named after a plant that features prominently in the film's Sydney setting) is half mystery, half ensemble drama. It opens with the slow revealing of a dead woman caught up in a bunch of bushes, before progressing on to the main stories.The first half of the film sets up each of the dozen or so main characters: the apparent protagonist is detective Leon (Anthony LaPaglia). Although he's married to Sonja (Kerry Armstrong), he has an affair with Jane (Rachael Blake), who's currently separated from her own husband Peter (Glenn Robbins). Sonja suspects Leon's affair and confides in renowned therapist Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey). Valerie is herself having a personal crisis or two, dealing with her emotionally distant husband John (Geoffrey Rush) and the unnerving revelations of one client, a gay man named Patrick (Peter Phelps). There are more sub-plots and characters that interweave in the lives of these characters on the edge, but those are the ones that truly drive the film.The second half of the film begins when it's revealed that Valerie has disappeared. Since several characters have some connection to her, it ramps up the tension between each character to breaking point.Handling a movie with multiple sub-plots is always difficult. You only ever hear about it if the makers get it absolutely right. Lantana managed to get it right, juggling each sub-plot smoothly. The film lasts for about two hours (roughly an hour less than films of a similar breed like Magnolia or Short Cuts) and it does not drag at all. It even feature a couple of mysteries outside of the main "disappearance" arc (the most obvious ones including "Who has Patrick been sleeping with?" and "What does Sonja say at the end of the therapy session?") Visually speaking, the film is brilliant. The quality see-saws from grainy to polished in such a manner that it works. The acting (comprised of several well-known Australian actors, including a surprisingly serious turn by Robbins) is top-notch. Some moments may be over-the-top, but overall it's done well and with considerable restraint. I don't remember being too impressed with the score, but I'd figure that if it was good I'd remember it.Lantana may not be the most original of films. As I outlined earlier, it's very similar to Short Cuts and Magnolia in terms of narrative, and the strength of the disappearance mystery may seem about as strong to a modern audience as the plot of the average CSI episode. However, as a whole the film works out fine. It proves to be a complex, thought-provoking meditation on the lives of overly human people that aren't necessarily bad, but just struggle to try and stay good even in the face of such extreme adversity.